According to a source close to Curry, the Knicks' veteran center met with James in Ohio to discuss Curry's future, which may or may not include having LeBron as a teammate. The conversation, the source said, "had nothing to do with Eddy trying to recruit LeBron to New York."

In fact, Curry may have been recruiting himself to join James either in Cleveland or Chicago. Curry is entering the final year of his contract and has told close friends he'd welcome a buyout from the Knicks in order to become a free agent.

Curry has talked about returning to his hometown of Chicago to restart his career. The Bulls are one of several teams with salary cap room to sign James, who is expected to visit New York, New Jersey and Chicago when he becomes a free agent on July 1.

James originally reached out to Curry in early May about possibly working out together during the offseason. Curry and James share the same agent, Leon Rose, and both are friendly with NBA power broker William Wesley, who recently became the agent for Kentucky coach John Calipari.

Last summer, the Knicks appointed Wesley to be in charge of Curry's offseason training program. The move was twofold: Curry was overweight and Knicks president Donnie Walsh wanted to strengthen his ties to someone in James' inner circle.

New York Knicks center Eddy Curry speaks with free agent-to-be LeBron James (b.), but sources say Curry doesn't make a pitch for James to come to the Knicks in the course of the conversation.

(Goldfield for News)

The results were mixed. Curry arrived for training camp out of shape but the Knicks had a special visitor at their first practice at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs: Wesley.

The chances of the Knicks reaching a buyout with Curry are remote because Walsh sees Curry as an important asset. With Curry set to become a free agent next summer, he has all the incentive in the world to have a bounce-back season.

Curry's expiring contract makes him a valuable trade commodity and Walsh, who has been Curry's most ardent supporter, remains convinced that Curry can also be of value to the Knicks on the court.

James remains noncommittal about his future and has not commented publicly since Izzo last week decided to turn down the Cavaliers' coaching job and remain at Michigan State.